Cameron Iron Works building in EaDo getting new life

Kaldis purchased the 60,000-square-foot art deco-style building at 711 N. Milby in November. The seller, CDAB III LP, was the same entity that owns the shuttered Maxwell House coffee plant next door.

The acquisition included adjacent parcels at 3905 Rusk and 1000 N. Milby. Harris County appraised the properties at a combined $2.2 million.

Kaldis is known for adaptive reuse projects like the Montalbano tire shop on Washington Avenue, the former Antone’s deli building on Taft and a 1930 plumbing supply shop in Montrose. He typically restores the structures, keeping the exterior intact and, and remakes the interior spaces for high-end retail. He’s planning to do the same with his latest acquisition.

The Cameron building, just across the railroad tracks from the coffee plant, was built in the early 1930s. Cameron Iron Works was founded in 1920 by Texas wildcatter James Smither Abercrombie purchased a controlling interest in a rig repair and steel-forging shop from Harry S. Cameron. The company is now part of Schlumberger.